What Treatment is Available for Hypertension?
When ocular disease is present, special eye drops may be required depending on how much the eye is bleeding and whether or not return of vision is likely. (Here is one area where an ophthalmology specialist may be especially able to help.) When hypertension is identified, a search for the underlying cause is indicated. It may be that controlling the underlying disease totally reverses the hypertension (especially true for hyperthyroid cats). Beyond these methods, as with people, medication to actually lower blood pressure is often in order. This typically involves some type of pill that dilates peripheral blood vessels, effectively making them larger so as to accommodate the high pressure blood flow going through them. Salt restriction in the diet is controversial; it seems to make sense but there is not enough data at present to whole-heartedly recommend it. Certainly, if the pet has kidney disease, the recommendation is less equivocal as these low salt diets are designed with other f
